I thought of that, but if I was only going to get one thing, the google hits suggest that it would be much more reliable to go with olive wood, then olives themselves; most the of the hits concern constipation and things like that (only a few single out olive oil), which is inconsistent with what I would expect from a catnip substitute (firsthand, the effects of catnip, valerian, honeysuckle, and the silvervine I just got today, are all fairly noticeable) and suggests that whatever the active ingredient is (may not be the same as catnip, as some of the olive anecdotes claim catnip immunity in olive responders), it is lost or reduced in oil compared to the still relatively physically intact woods or olives.
That said, why not - if the EVOO does nothing, I can always eat it myself, and how expensive could it possibly be? Is there any specific brand or product you would recommend as particularly reliable?
I wonder if the olive wood reports are coming from the places (like Spain or Italy) where it's easy to get fresh olive wood... In the States kitchen supply stores (including Bed Bath & Beyond) sell olive-wood spoons ($5 or so), bowls and such, but I don't know how much processing (e.g. thermal) did that wood go through.
I buy olio nuovo here and can attest that it's very different from the supermarket olive oil.
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